The 2024 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup (Spanish: Copa Mundial Femenina Sub-20 de la FIFA Colombia 2024) was the 11th edition of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, the biennial international women's youth football championship contested by the under-20 women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was expanded by FIFA to feature 24 teams instead of 16.[1]
The tournament was hosted by Colombia from 31 August to 22 September 2024. It was the third time that Colombia hosted a FIFA tournament, after the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup and the 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup. This was also the first time that Colombia hosted a FIFA women's tournament.[2]
Spain were the defending champions. In addition, Spain held all three Women's World Cups (senior, U-20 and U-17) at the time of the tournament.[3] They were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Japan, whom they faced in the two previous finals. This edition celebrates the 10th anniversary of the U-20 Women's World Cup, just like its precesor.
Host selection
Colombia were announced as the 2024 Women's U-20 World Cup hosts following the FIFA Council meeting on 25 June 2023 in Zürich, Switzerland.[2]
Expansion
On 4 October 2023, FIFA decided the expansion of the tournament from 16 to 24 teams.[1] The slot allocation mirrored the men's tournament and was as follows:
A total of 24 teams qualified for the final tournament. In addition to Colombia who qualified automatically as hosts, the other 23 teams qualified from six separate continental competitions.
^After the announcement of the expansion of the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup to 24 teams, Costa Rica took the new fourth spot as CONCACAF representative as they ended fourth in the qualifying tournament.
^After the announcement of the expansion of the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup to 24 teams, Fiji took the new second spot as OFC representative as they ended second in the qualifying tournament.
^After the announcement of the expansion of the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup to 24 teams, UEFA decided to organize a play-off between Austria and Iceland, the group stage third-placed teams, on 4 December 2023. The fifth place play-off winners would qualify for the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.[4]
Venues
Bogotá, Cali, and Medellín were the three cities chosen to host the competition on 20 February 2024.[5]
For this tournament, Estadio Nemesio Camacho El Campín was officially called "Estadio El Campín" and Estadio Metropolitano de Techo was officially called "Estadio El Techo" by FIFA. The original name of each of them is shown in parentheses.[6][7]
400km 250miles
3
2
1
Location of the host cities of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Colombia 2024.
The official draw took place on 5 June 2024 at the Hall 74 in Bogotá.[8] The teams were allocated based on their performances in the 5 previous U-20 Women's World Cups, with five bonus points added to the qualifying tournament winners (for this cycle).[9]
The host team, Colombia, was automatically seeded and assigned to position A1. During the draw process, teams from the same confederation could not be placed in the same group for the group stage.
FVS system did not utilize video match officials. The head coach of each team was allowed to make a video review request. The number of requests during the match were limited to two for the regulation time with an additional challenge added in extra time. Should the coach failed in all of the remaining requests, they would not be allowed to request another review.
A total of 18 referees, 36 assistant and 4 support referees were appointed officially by FIFA for the tournament on 19 June 2024.[12]
Originally, Susanne Küng [de; simple] (Switzerland) and Andreia Ferreira (Portugal) were selected for the tournament, and latter replaced by their compatriots Linda Schmid and Vanessa Gomes, respectively.
The VAR system was implemented only for the third place match and the final. Both referees designated as video assistant for the two final matches are shown in italic.
In the knockout stage, if a match was level at the end of normal playing time, extra time was played (two periods of fifteen minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winner.[10]
Combinations of matches in the Round of 16
The specific match-ups involving the third-placed teams depended on which four third-placed teams qualified for the round of 16:[10]
The official emblem was unveiled on 8 April 2024. According to FIFA's website:[19]
...[The] vibrant design [is] inspired by the stunning nature and colour of host nation Colombia as well as the tournament's fundamental role in forging the Future Stars of Football.
Using the South American country's unique and iconic Caño Cristales river, nicknamed 'Liquid Rainbow', as the central theme of the design, the tournament emblem also features the yellow, blue and red of the Colombian flag to make it the perfect blended reflection of the tournament hosts and the competition itself.
Theme song
The official theme song was revealed in August 16 under the title "Aheh-Aheh" (styled sometimes in uppercase) sung by Colombian artists Nath and Ysa C.[20] It is also known as "the 10th anniversary song" like "Vamos Juntas", the song from its precesor.
Mascot
The tournament's mascot was named "Kinti". The mascot represented the biodiversity of the country and shaped after a hummingbird. Kinti was unveiled on 23 May 2024 at the Botanical Garden of Medellín.[21]
^The match, originally scheduled for 20:00 local time, was delayed to prevent overlap with the previous game in Cali (Netherlands—Colombia) which finished on penalty shoot-out.
.png)
